Tetra Tech Participated in the 20th Americana Conference and Trade Show in March

Americana, the largest multi-sectoral environmental gathering in North America, celebrated its 20th year in 2015. The conference and trade show took place from March 17–19, 2015, at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. The United States was the featured country. Three Tetra Tech employees spoke at the event.

Maxym Lachance specializes in instrumentation and control for municipal water projects, as well as automated control structures design and planning. He notably participated in the development and implementation of a real-time control solution for the City of Edmonton, which received two Grands prix du génie-conseil Québécois prizes in the Urban Infrastructures and Visionary categories.

On March 17, Mr. Lachance spoke on “Combined sewer overflow (CSO) improvements in Ottawa,” under the Stormwater Innovations component of the conference. He also presented on this project at the 2014 ISA Water/Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium in Orlando, Florida. It was also selected for WEFTEC 2014.

The project consisted of implementing real-time control to manage the City of Ottawa’s wastewater, which led to a 60 percent reduction in CSO volume since its implementation in 2011. The City of Ottawa received the environmental award from the Ontario Public Works Association as a result of the improvements in the real-time management of its combined sewer system. The Consulting Engineers of Ontario also presented the City with their 2012 Environment Award for the major pollution control project undertaken by the City and its partners.

Dr. Dave MacNevin specializes in pilot studies and membrane water treatment. He also serves as a Project Advisory Committee (PAC) member under the California Direct Potable Reuse Initiative. His presentation, “Potable reuse in Florida: What have we learned so far?” took place on March 18, from 1:30–3:00 p.m., under the Water Reuse component of the conference.

Growing populations and water scarcity in California, Texas, and Florida have driven demand for alternative water supplies, including brackish water desalination, and, to an increasing extent, potable reuse. Challenged by the demand for affordable, safe drinking water and the need to reduce the impact of high urban density in coastal environments, as well as planned closures of ocean outfalls, several Florida communities have investigated potable reuse, using an assortment of treatment processes.

Dr. MacNevin reviewed the state of potable reuse in Florida, providing a brief overview of several potable reuse projects, the treatment technologies pilot tested, the water quality results, and operational insights gained from each process.

François Desjardins specializes in water treatment and presented “Wastewater treatment using aerated ponds and tertiary sand filtration for the town of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac and its cheese factory.” His lecture was part of the Industrial Wastewater component of the conference on March 19, from 1:30–3:00 p.m. It addressed the upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant of Saint-Benoit-du-Lac, which involved constraints including discharge to Lake Memphrémagog and the town’s small-scale production of cheese. The construction of the facility is finished and start-up took place in December 2014. The wastewater treatment plant handles 100 million gallons per day.